mot tester

tire technician

assistant manager

center manager

automotive technician

KwikFit

Strong culture of mispaying, overtime is denied and not paid, even down to small minutes stayed behind to get the place clean. You may have a centre of genuinely very nice people, and they can be a pleasure to work with - outside the centre however you are constantly under pressure to reach add on sales figures like alignment, extra balancing, and finding additional work on servicing. Tyre care is a big one and it just rolls downhill, with so much pressure to sell, it has been known to be placed onto invoices without the customers consent, knowledge or understanding of an insurance product they could be paying anything between £8 and £70 dependant on tyre price. Strong culture of passing the book, denying responsibility and covering your backside, customers are seen as cash cows and are manipulated into additional work they weren't expecting. 
As a technician you will be severely underpaid for your role and you will have to like it because you're seen as a low skill monkey who can be replaced at the drop of a hat for another mug who will step in for as long as is necessary - leading to the awful retention the company holds and continuously denies, there are always vacancies and often centres at half staff due to retention issues. 
The company claims they have excellent benefits just because they're on the same SmartSpending discount service every other chain is on which offers great benefits like save 3% at Currys for purchases over £400 on a preloaded card. You will not see any mention of salary in the application because it as at or below average for the role. 
Training is hardly acceptable and consists of completed online based presentations with 3 or 4 question quizzes which will to the most basic level ensure you've looked at some of the slides and read some of the content. The purpose of the training is not to develop you as a person or develop your skills in the automotive sector, but to cover the middle managements backside when you make a human error on a customer's vehicle, any training you complete at a training centre is the most basic to get you competent enough to be completely liable for any mistakes you make doing the work.

Only positive, is they'll take monkeys, so if you want to go somewhere that will look after you and you don't currently have the experience needed - great, survive the job for long enough to leave and move on. However if you want to work in a dealership, you won't get the City and Guilds they look for you'll have to sort that out yourself.

Began working as a tyre fitter for  over six years in the South West. I was promised training, career progression and bonus for making targets/ over time. 
My first year being introduced to the mechanical trade was fine. However from their on I discovered how horrible and unjust the upper management treat the staff and costumers. 

The holidays were always the busy periods where it became mandatory for you to work over time. I have never received extra payment for going into my own personal time. You will find it extra frustrating if you have children as you won't be able to have time off when the children break up from school. However this issue does not apply to management (with or without kids).   

You will be lucky to have a break on a busy day as most centres are understaffed (surprisingly). Again you will not be shown any form of gratitude for this, as apparently you should be grateful for the job.

Unfortunately the better you become at the base-line job (i.e tyre fitting) the more unlikely it will become for you to develop your skills in other departments.

The ability to lie to costumers is also a helpful unspoken requirement. The reason for this being if targets are not met then certain staff members are not required anymore. However to counter balance this, if profits are high then a shared bonus pot will be split between the staff.
After keeping track of three months of daily profits and working out how much bonus each member received (management receives more than average). I discovered a quarter of the pot that was meant for general staff kept disappearing. My manager repeatedly reassured us that he would look into it......    

You should also have an eye for painting and decorating as you might be asked to paint the depo after work for a few hours from time to time. Refusal is looked down upon. However you might be rewarded with a pizza for dinner. Sadly no extra payment.  

Eventually I had learned Break fitting, Exhaust fitting etc from fellow staff members on quiet days. My manager eventually had confidence in me to take on other responsibility's as long as tyre fitting came first.   
However having more skills and extra responsibility's does not mean an increase in pay.

Eventually I moved up towards the North of England where i had a transfer waiting in hopes that my starting area was just treated poorly. 
I was wrong.
I saw the same drained, dead eyed staff I just left behind on new faces.
It was exactly the same in my new centre. 
I handed in my notice two weeks later and never looked back. 

I can't even go into detail about the area management as I'm not even sure they are human.
They will drain you of any love of life you might hold.

The pay is laughable. A lot of inexperienced staff given roles they can't handle. Higher management use intimidation and threats to motivate targets. If your day is quiet you are accused of refusing work. Bonus is dangled in front of you then taken away from even if you have a good profitable month because you didn't sell enough extra wheel balance or alignments. You are told to make the sale but then told off for applying too much discount. 

The centre I worked at was left to slowly fall into disrepair to a point where the roof was leaking and at least one ramp was always broken. It was like pulling teeth getting garage equipment repaired or replaced. Expected to work overtime on such short notice and berated for refusing. They seemed to think it was ok to just neglect the improvement and rewarding of staff that deserved it.

 They created a culture where the centre management have a sense that answering the phone, speaking to customers, ordering parts and watching videos on their phone all day is a harder job than the lads actually out in the garage doing all the labour trying to meet deadlines unrealistically set by management who have very little understanding how long a repair takes. 
The training provided is ok, not to the standard of the IMI but its close enough. Fast track training is absurd due to kwikfit expecting you to know how to do jobs their way which if you have done IMI training some of the things they expect of you are odd to say the least and are not taught anywhere else.
You should not expect a regular dinner break some days I wouldn't of had a break until 3pm.

Working a Sunday is usually pointless most of the custom on that day are not regular customers so it can be draining to spend 5 hours listening to people complain about prices and moan about the inability to receive parts on a Sunday. 

If you are a hard worker you will be tossed from centre to centre as managers fight over you. If you do not work hard you will be tossed from centre to centre as managers try to get rid of you they don't like firing staff too much they would rather put you somewhere out the way so they can use you to cover other centres.
Don't ask for a pay rise they laugh at you and tell you that you're already on too much money even if you are the lowest paid service tech on the patch.

Long hours,varied work,depends which centre you work if team is helpful day will go easy if unhelpful uphill struggle,
Main bread and butter is tyres,be prepared to constantly rack tyres in brand/size order,tablet system for tyre,brakes and servicing recording results very glitchy and time consuming,if have good center manager/supervisor makes it managble,be prepared up to 4 times a year to paint floors/walls,regularly deweed and clean car park,clean canteen,toilets,customer waiting areas,tyre machines/ balancers,empty bins, clean ramp areas,constant brushing,mopping.
Always pressured to find extra upsell,balancing,brakes ,tyres  ALIGNMENT,brake fluid changes,suspension and exhaust work,extra add on service  work,
Customers constantly booking in for free checks which they may have had work done at another garage they have no intention to buy just waste your time,
Leverless tyre machine very easy to tear tyres/damage wheels on demont be careful,
Consumble items generally well stocked unless manager tight on ordering so he can get bigger bonus,manger allowed 50 percent bonus rest of team he can distribute how he/she sees fit,
Decent training courses with paid for hotels and car fuel allowance/rail pass as long as you can get time out of centre otherwise not allowed to go,most training done online on saba training portal or via in centre trainer,
Be prepared to invest money in a toolbox/tools will need to purchase tool insurance as if center gets robbed your own personal toolbox/tools not covered.
Very little time to get through mot tests every 45 mins in diary every car has to have a tablet tyre inspection as well,
If you like working on cars you will like working here,if manager strict you wont be allowed to work on your own car even on your day off,
Staff always short,days off/holidays cancelled short notice,work rota can be a nightmare,
Diary can be overbooked not taking into account amount of staff/skill set available,plus is regular wage/job security,keep eye on your clockings to make sure u get paid correctly especially overtime,overtime is flat rate no time1/2 or double pay.
career/pay progression hard to get. 
Experience may be different if you have a good center,team and manager/supervisor/operations manager

You have to supply all your own handtools company does not even insure them.Operation managers only care about sales and profit £200 alignments a day,max tyres sales 10% growth from last year,they have invested in old sustandard tablets for tyre reports and brake reports they constantly loose internet connection freeze and do not work if you do not use them they warn you with the sack,even if a customer asks for a blown light bulb change have to get it on ramp check all 4 or 5 tyres including spare and alignment before can change light bulb,you have do everthing from clean toilets,paint garage walls and floor,do all paperwork sell the job,constantly re rack tyres 1000+,answer phones,order parts deal with returns,too many pointless admin tasks,constantly getting told by area managers about sales and profit even during covid lockdown,you are only as good as your last days sales performance,every day they dock an hours pay for lunch but do not give you time to have lunch,customers and time on spanners is good,pointless admin tasks a nightmare,if you get a bad center manager and assistant manager they will make your life difficult,they will be lazy and not pick up thier cleaning and admin tasks make you do everything so they can enjoy 50% bonus from center and so they can pass audits,overworked and underpaid,they have cut back on training as its mainly online now,every day you feel like you are sinking and the mountain of tasks will never get done.  if you are sick they do not like to pay sick pay even though it is is such a low amount.if the area manager arrives at center creates absolute pandemonium every customer car in turn it around quick you can forget about  lunches .for stop gap between jobs you may cope but long term will make you have a mental breakdown. Human resource and main higher up mds have no idea of how bad it is for workers.

If you have no life, and no family Kwik Fit is the ideal work place for you, its long underpaid days, your docked one hour per day for breaks fifteen minutes in the morning, half hour lunch, and fifteen minutes on an afternoon!. However managers are that greedy, you don't get your two fifteen minutes, and you have to fight for your 30 minute lunch break, getting that in full is also difficult if you don't leave the premises. This hour is unpaid. Even with the new clock in system, you still fight for breaks and overtime of what you don't take is still unpaid, as the manager wont have the overtime come off his budget. 

Operations Managers are two faced snakes, they'll be nice as pie to your face and then outright slander you on the phone to managers, they'll promote you quickly, but when the proverbial hits the fan they'll scapegoat you into leaving or stepping down. That much so I am in the process of going to court against the ops personally. 

A word of advice from proof, if you want to further your career in sales after Kwik Fit don't put them on your CV, as no one likes the Kwik Fit culture or way!. I was getting no where and as it currently stands ive had 10 interviews and 3 offers since I removed Kwik Fit off my CV, compared to rejections and feedback as Kwik Fit culture is not for us etc. 

If you have family or children with special needs your told its up to you to swap your day off with who is on that day, if they say no then you cant attend a child's appointment, so don't expect paternal rights with this company to hold up. Your expected to stay behind after hours where overtime is voluntary not mandatory, Kwik Fit don't understand that. If a customer complains about you, and its rubbish or even dressed up?, don't expect to be backed or listened to under Kwik Fits we care push!, what ever a customer says will be taken as gospel. 

BE WARNED STEER CLEAR!!!!. Unless your desperate!.

Kwik-fit used to be a decent company to work for but since the new ownership from itochi ie ETEL it has went so far backwards it's sad and shockin,. but if your face fit's and your young, gullible and willing to do whatever they want you to do your onto a winner but if your a long server you will be pushed out the door by clueless upper management .

The centres are low staffed with no morale, direction, experience or skills.

We are not allowed holidays in certain month's, management team ie manager and supervisor ain't allowed there ROTA day's off unless authorised, we are emailed every 20 minutes regarding sale's, if customer comes in for a tyre and no added extra's sold to them we are reprimanded and have to explain why the customer wouldn't spend extra £50 quid plus on ie wheel alignment and tyre insurance etc. We also have to paint the building and the content's and work after hour's without extra pay. They also demand we check customer's wheel alignment without asking them and have high targets of at least 1 alignment for every 4th car that drives in the door or threatened with our job's or moved out the area.

There is no communication from upper management wot so ever, they just turn up and try to find something to get you up against the ropes so they can have you on a string like a puppet. Certain managers are also picked and pressured to try and remove from the company and they take great pleasure on doing it.

If work overtime the chances of you getting paid are very slim as upper management won't process it as they will try play a fast 1 and see if you actually notice which most ppl don't.

I would not recommend any1 to work here if you like some sort of life.

Kwik-Fit has recently been brought out by a Japanese company named Itochu, This company has invested huge amounts of money into kwik-fit to improve all sites and service. This job would benefit someone that is eager to learn about cars and how they work as well as great opportunities for progression in the near future.

As a Sales Supervisor I would usually start my day off with checking the diary to see what is to be expected to come in during the day. I would also get all paperwork printed for services and mot's that would be due in on the day. Once all paper work has been printed and orders for parts made I would then interact with the team for a quick 10 minute brief on how sales got on the previous day.

The team in Kwik-Fit are extremely helpful and always happy to teach you new things, Before joining I did not know much of the mechanics of a vehicle but I can now confidently say that I now know how to fit wheels and tyres, brakes, air con recharge and vehicle tracking. Whenever you're not sure of something someone is always willing to give you a hand.

I applied for Kwik-Fit on a temporary basis for extra cash and although I have now been offered a full time position I am still very much focused on finding a job that offers a salary of at least £22,000 or offers the possibility of earning this through OTE. 

I would definitely say that the people in Kwik-Fit make the job the most enjoyable part of the business as everyone is so upbeat and knowledgeable within their trade. I think this makes the management teams job much easier and in turn shows good practice for when customers enter in centers.

The daily targets are crazy & the culture amongst the hierarchy of funny handshakes & jobs for the boys is disgusting! Being screamed at & belittled as your target wasn’t met & you didn’t rob enough fleet that day or your margin wasn’t all in tyres & up sells I mean you got target but why no tyre insurance sales... trying to get daily target on every car, lying on job cards to say components are in the red rather than being transparent with clear accurate reporting, management filing down tread depth gauges the boys drilling holes in side walks of slow punctures, “trackings” being done ( wore brush the threads & grease) “brake fluid changes” sucking the old stuff out the reservoir with a syringe & topping up with fresh, using air but charging for nitro, being made to sign sheets for work other “techs” are unqualified to perform the miss selling culture & changing of prices to try make target. Never seen an honest days work from all or anyone in the depot the culture & attitude from all is pretty horrendous & the few honest depots are tarnished by the company’s horrendous reputation!ist techs have no tools so they’ll ask to borrow yours even though they’ve been employed to do the same job...  No lunch breaks never any PPE barrier cream or gloves as this comes out managers budget & PNL changing/toilet area that’s disgusting random days off here & there ( try spending time with your kids or loved one when you’re off a random Tuesday here  or Wednesday there, one weekend off a month and it’s usually a Friday/Saturday Bradford scoring system for sick day 

avoid avoid avoid

Concidering I have worked for Kwik fit for 4 years now and moving into 5, from being a service tech and moving onto management, I have seen it all.

As managers we have been told to keep the staff working and pull them out of their lunch breaks if a job comes in.

As managers, we can't have an appropriate 1 hour break through-out the day. There's always jobs coming in and going out.

The staff feel like they're on the edge with the freedom they have which is limited to work and no talk policy. 

If a customer isn't happy with one little detail of work that has been carried out on their vehicle, they get a FULL money back  or vauchers equivalent to what they have spent. 

As a manager, I have been forced to give refunds otherwise the customer will complain to Head office. 
If they complain, they get their money back and we get shouted for it. Not physically but more of a "don't let it happen again!" concersarion over the phone. We're left with no choice but to give a refund. 

As for family time, you can forget about it. Managers are contracted to 39 but in reality work 44-46. 
The technitions are underline with jobs and constantly getting bombarded and racing against time. 

Sometimes certain managers get technitions not to carry out appropriate service items. For example, if a fuel filter is difficult to do, just "hide it" and pretent it's done. 
I have seen that happen with my own eyes when I was a technician. 

What have operation managers done about it? Nothing, they just care about figures and hitting daily sales. 



Top Job Titles	Average salary
Mot tester 11 salaries reported	£23,356 per year
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Automotive technician 1 salary reported	£16,000 per year

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